Old Knucklehead Barleywine | BridgePort Brewing Co. / Brewpub

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Reviews by brother_rebus:

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Pours a deep bronze with a nice creamy head that dissapates pretty quickly leaving a light amount of lace seems to be quite heavily carbonated for a barleywine.Very fruity aroma not much hop presence very juicy and effervescent,maybe a touch of brown sugar.Alot of different malty/fruity flavors going on some caramel and raisin with alcohol cutting hard thru the fruit a light dryness in finish but I didnt pick up the hops as much as others have.Big and bold very flavorful the beer has a prickly feeling in the mouth and it warms the insides.

Appearance  A decent barley wine head atop a deep, brown body with a tinge of orange.

Smell  This one has a nice bouquet of deep, ripe fruits rolled in molasses and balanced with sharp hops. The toasted malt lays the groundwork for some strong smells of smashed dates and apricots soaked in alcohol.

Taste  Boy, this is big. The sweetness comes out in force here. There seems to be more sugars than in the nose  brown sugar, table sugar, and molasses again. The overly ripe brown pineapple flavor soaks well in the dark rum. The hop and malt profiles battle to a standstill. This one is complex and fun.

Mouthfeel  Flat and refreshing and definitely full-bodied. You can almost roll this one into a ball.

Drinkability  I doubt that the stern alcohol warning of this ale will slow many. This is one for the ages.

Very faint malt aroma,very blackish with a small head, sweet pleasant malt taste, a wonderful smooth texture on the tongue. I was hoping that some other flavors would start popping up as the brew warmed, but it really didn't happen. A nice enough beverage, but I like barleywines a little more compex.

Smell: In the proper chalice, this smells of ripe fruit bathing in alcohol with notes of grain.

Taste: Dense mouth-feel, mouthful of grain with nutty, toasty and fruity flavours. More than enough hops to balance this big malt profile, also letting through some leaf. The sharp prickly alcohol is dominant, reddening the cheeks and warming the innards.

Notes: This is a beautiful barley wine, very flavourful and boasting 9.1% abv. The only problem with this brew was the dregs that did not settle, they wandered into the glass even with gentle decanting.

I believe Old Knucklehead was last released in Jan/Feb of 2003 so I presume this was a sample aged approximately 22 months. However it was sampled from the firkin at the brewpub, and I have no knowledge of how an aged cask beer is served. Do they add fresh yeast to an aged batch? Another possibility is that they brew fresh Old Knucklehead year-round for the brewpub and only release bottles intermittently. Regardless, I shall assume the sample was aged, since it was smooth, refined, and alcohol and hop flavors were kept well in check. It was just about the most drinkable barley wine I've ever had. From the cask, it was a ripe, vinous beer, appearing a very dark shade of amber with big-bubbled foam. Alcohol was lightly present on the nose but not really in the taste. The flavor was smoky, peaty, woody, full and malty with varnish hints. A light hop sparkle popped up on the finish, and while the substance of the beer is unmistakeable it is as user-friendly as a sessional amber ale. Despite the beer's hugeness it quickly disappeared from the tongue, requiring another sip to keep ahold of the fantastic flavor... and another, and another. Awesome.

** edit: the bartender at BridgePort told me they brew OK year round even if it's not being bottled.

A heavy dark and cloudy appearance. Aroma, super sweet and even a degree of hoppiness.

Taste, big winter warmer style enjoyable heat. There seems to be a lot going on in here. some of the dark fruit, a good degree of hoppiness, sweet yeast effect. Its not Bigfoot, but it ha a lot of similarity to that rare kind of big hop, big everything kind of BW.

Never aged this one, doesn't seem like it would be up my alley, the hops are the draw.

Orangey brown appearance, finely carbonated head of an 1/8 of an inch. Long glass ringing lace with drips every 1/2 inch or so. Aroma is on the light side, slight molasses with a far away asphalt hop sense. Fruity pear liquor flavors, low on the carbonation side produces a smoothness and a light hop sense. One of the few times I could use a little more carbonation. This is maltier than than the already malty Avery I just tried and may lean too far in the sweet and fruity direction. As much heat from the alcohol as from a resious pine sense that's mostly a feature of the aroma. I'd drink this if it was available locally, could be spicier...

Appearance: Deep ruby caramel tan head speckled lacing lines the snifter. Aroma: Deep alcohol and fruit surrounded by a barrage of caramel toned malts and a mild hop character. Taste: Piney bitterness comes to the palate unbalanced heavy handed on bitterness not enough hop flavor or sweetness to even everything out, plus it lacks a big lucious alcohol infused fruit finish that I was craving from a barleywine. Mouthfeel: Medium body smooth soft carbonation. Drinkability: I have to mark this down due to the unbalance overall a decent west coast b-wine but nothing I would crave to get all the time.

Soapy off-white head, a hoppy barleywine. Carmel malt, a little roast. 2003 edition, average barleywine. A complexity of hops, citrus,cinammon and fruit. It all sounds tastier than it really is. Maybe by itself at dinner. Ohio International gathering, thanks JSquires.

22oz bomber of barleywine served in a chalice. Beer is a bright, beautiful amber color, syrupy in consistency, with nearly zero head. Not much in the way of aroma, a little bit malty and rich . Flavor is a big oak plank to the forehead. IBUs are pretty up there in here too, but they balance nicely with the heavy sugar and raw alcohol load in this barleywine. I don't get much in the way of fruity or grape/raisin flavors here, just huge beer with a lot of oak. Does it need cellaring to mellow out? Maybe. The "fresh" version is totally drinkable but it's no A+ / world-class barleywine.

From a bottle marked No 011 2003 BOTTLING. Fred Eckhardt on the label. Well, I listened to my beer as Fred suggests... ....only the crinkle of the cap at the opening of this... and not much more during the pour! But maybe he has something there, bacuse that's the way this beer is, smooth and subtle, and under the radar.

It poured a clear, dark ruby-almost-brown robe beneath a short head of creamy yellowish foam that held well and left some nice spots of lace about the glass. Upon inspection of the bottle I thought that it had been filtered, but a peek at the base of the goblet revealed otherwise. There, nestled tightly, were the very compacted remains of whatever yeast had been in the bottle at the outset... and there they stayed, never rising up into suspension.

The nose was restrained for a barleywine, particularily one from the Pacific Northwest of the United States, but it expressed a nice shot of yeasty fruitiness over some mildly caramelish malt and some citrusy/piney hops. In fact, the combination of its fruity, citrusy hops and lightly sweet, caramel drizzled malt made for an appealing nose that was more loaded with soft summer fruit than anything sharp like pineapple of grapefruit.

In the mouth it was superbly smooth, bordering between oily and creamy... I guess you could say it was silky. Medium/full bodied with a restrained, natural carbonation.

The flavor was very much as the nose indicated, and also like the way it felt in the mouth. This is one rounded barleywine! Now, whether 2 years of cellaring did that (or even could do that) I'm not sure... let's just leave the credit to their brewmaster! It started fruity and immediately pulled in its caramelish and lightly nutty malt before quickly revealing more fruit (strawberry, grape, cherry). Some bready and toasty malt appeared across the middle, and then lingered in the aftertaste with some dull, piney hops and a mild bitterness. Each sip brought out more character (at one point I even tasted watermelon), but it's not really that complex. The balance, however, is astounding! If this could offer more flavor, it would be a knockout, but I fear that in doing that it might spin off course. As it is, however, it's one of the most remarkably drinkable barleywines I've ever had. Splendid!

No. 013 Bottling from a 22 oz bottle.
Thin head on a hazy, copper colored body.
The aroma is rich and deep: grain, bread and woody, like oak.
The taste is complex. It starts out woody, deep malt sweetness, bitterness in the middle, finishes candy sweet.
Smooth texture, low carbonation and heavy body.
A complex and deeply flavorful beer.

Murky bloody cherry-brown in hue, when held to a light influences of tawny-gold are found. It is a lovely color. A beige head reached a sad fourth of a finger in height and it quickly faded to a collar. The subsequent lacing was nil. The nose is a big burst of alcoholic fruit juice, strong aromas of cherries, plums, pineapple, and raisins with suggestions of sugar, nutmeg, and bubblegum too. The potency is huge. Big, round maltiness. I really like the bouquet, fantastic fruitiness; I cant wait to see if the palate can match this intensity. Mouthwatering inviting. It is drinking time. The palate is disappointing. Period. Where are the flavor complexities? Upfront is alcohol heat, sugar, and a bit of yeasty spice, in the middle the maltiness is flat, it tries to be juicy and amble but this attempt is paper-thin. The finish quickly pushes through as a suggestion of tropical fruit and plums find a home. However the alcohol heat reemerges and it just sat on my lips. It burns. The promised fruitiness of the nose is never delivered. Where the hell is the enjoyment? Is this sample just too young? The sugariness becomes cumbersome. This is felt in the mouthfeel too, I found it very thin, especially for such a big beer, medium-light in body. The carbonation is also small. The drinkability is low because the alcohol is harsh and the palate is lacking in complexities and is basically unrefined. Couple this with the fact I cant see myself drinking this again. There are way to many great barleywines I could spend my money on. I bought one 12-ounce bottle in Loveland, CO. I could not recommend this.